You've got about $36,000 to burn on a new car and all your friends have Infiniti G37s and BMW 3 Series sedans. If you're looking for a quick and sporty four-door with a more raw appeal than those premium sedans, the Subaru WRX STI and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution are ready to please.

Perhaps you've seen our latest comparison of these two vehicles, with a 2011 Subaru WRX STI five-door hatchback and a 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Special Edition. Each car has an advanced all-wheel-drive system and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing about 300 horsepower, but which one would suit your needs and driving desires better?In the comparison, we said the Mitsubishi makes any driver feel like Superman with its racecar-quick gearbox and precise cornering abilities. The Subaru, we explained, was a bit more civilized and more powerful than its closest competitor.

So the decision comes to you: With about $36,000 and a goal of driving a high-performance ride with an edge, would you go for the WRX STI or the Evolution SE? Or would you find a pre-owned Volkswagen R32 and use the rest of the budget for repairs and modifications? Tell us what you'd do in the comments section below, and don't miss the wallpaper gallery of our latest WRX STI vs. Evo X right here.

The EVO holds it's value better? Oh! That's why both ALG and KBB awarded Subaru with the Highest resale value awards.. not that Those two places know anything... And the hatchback comment tells us all how much you know about these cars, and your name.

Oh my gosh...Really, Evo vs. STi. STi all the way. I just sold my 05' STi recently, unfortunately, and loved it to death. I had it mildly tuned by Crawford Performance with a TBE, Air/Oil Separator and Cold air intake and a stage 1 clutch and smoked every Evo I ever raced, especially from a launch. Yea Evo's come better suspension wise from the factory, but some lowering springs and camber kits, min., coils even better and the STi wins!! And when it comes to HP and Torque, its all about mods, how and who tunes it. For all Subie owners go to Crawford Performance in Oceanside, CA. Just look them up! They run 600+ hp track cars w/ nothing more than diff. and clutch upgrades, aside from fully built motors. For daily driver, go with STi, and for fully built track cars either will do, it just depends on preference at that point and I prefer STi, just from personal experience from beating them and i've driven a mildly built Evo w/ about the same mods as my STi had and it had more lag because of the 2.0 L and probably the tune. So again, its all about tuning!!

Ok your full of shit. The evo is an amazing car and better than the Sti straight from the factory, however thats because Evo's come with a better tune from the factory. Give an equally good tune to an Sti, and it would kill the Evo in every aspect besides handling. Offroad is a whole other argument; offroad is where the suby shines.

Well i am going with the r32 on this one. First off it doesn't fit the category as it is not an all out speed demon of a car. It is meant for those who want a loud fast fun practical car. It is fast enough to keep you satisfied while practical enough you wont end up hating it every time you cross paths with a pothole. Anyway for those who say the golf r is better i disagree because i have driven an s4 with a v6t and a s5 with a v8 and even though the s4 is prob faster the s5 is more fun to drive and louder the s4 has a pooping noise that i presume is the turbo at work and you cant tell its slower. Same thing with the r32 and the golf r i would presume.

As much fun as both of these cars are, I would NOT purchase neither of them. Most owners of Evo/Sti are on a not much brighter than a pile of bricks (just read their forums and you'll know what I mean). The Evo-vs-STI pissing war has been going on for too long and has sadly damaged a reputation for both of these outstanding engineering marvels.

Drive both, I did. I ended up buying the WRX for two reasons. The fully laded Limited model with all the luxury I want in a daily driver was there compared to that being close to the base price of the EVO and there's something more mature about a WRX than the EVO. Stuyling is subjective and everyone has their own preference but this years upgraded body appealed to me and I enjoyed the layout of the cabin. Trunk was a huge issue again for a grown up with a house and a need to carry stuff. I do track days and keep up with the EVo's in class just fine with my stock REX. There's something just more refinedin the REX that sold me over the EVO even if its a better performing car. I was willing to trade performance for features, reputation, and honestly color. WR Blue is just an amazing color and I get compliments all the time about it. I say go for the REX and enjoy a sports car you can live with driving everyday even as you get older.

I like how you have made this personal, it's making this very amusing! And I hope it wasn't our tune, but if so oh well, at least we are making more money off a crappy product. Just like all the transmissions we get to replace. By the way the original 6 speeds are the ones that fall apart I was bringing up the blown engine to further explain how much Mitsubishi sucks. Okay your tune whats your response. ;-)

first you said tranny now your saying spun bearing...shut up. He probably got a spun bearing after your crappy shop tuned it. long term tested STI had the engine replace per factory warranty, explain that. Evo gsr drivetrains handle 600hp all day. Im done pissing with someone who is so clueless

Realy you are funny! 600hp? we have a customers car with a destroyed rotating assembly that was less than 400! Spun Bearing! And new cluch pack or not your crappy Sst will never hold up. Oh how I love pissing of idiots!

I am a mechanic also and you are lying, and a moron. AYC, ACD, AWC and the engineering is crap. STI is pathetic in terms of all all round performance, stock, compared to an evo. the car would need coils just to keep up with evo in stock form on the track and it would still would be slower. I make the average sti look pedestrian at track days and my x is mildly tuned. The subie doesn't even out perform the evo off road anymore. Where is the advantage to having an STI? I don't get it Spend some time with us on the evo x forum and see how many evo x gsr tranny's have failed. Not many at all. The SST tranny has a 350 ft/lb limit not hp limit u idiot, and at 10k at pop i really doubt that you are swapping those out regularly. Switching clutch pacs fixes that problem on sst equipped evos. GSR Evo drivetrains have been proven to be able to support 600+hp with the proper clutch.

Your making me cry im laughing so hard. The Vr motor in the 350 and 370 doesn't hold a candle to a boxer!!! Not to mention all wheel drive vs rear will drive isn't much of a competition in real world driving( snow, rain, gravel, ext. )

All you have done is read! I will give you one thing the stock evolution does handle better but the engineering of the car is crap I am a grease monkey at a performance shop and we are constantly replacing transmissions on evo's. If you put more than 350 hp on a evo they fall apart. I'm running 435/412 on e85 with a Stock transmission in my 07 sti. And the whole seat argument is all preference I hat the recaro's afrer about an hour of driving!

Well I just got a 2011 STI three weeks ago and had them put the SPT cat back exhaust on it. It sounds amazing and I have enjoyed driving it more than any car I have ever been in. I think the 2011 STI with the improved suspension handles better than the evo.

wow so much miss info on this thread. better quality than mitsu? check out long term test results on both vehicles. Subarwho was a complete POS, subaru does however have a better warranty. The Evo beats the subaru in every performance category on and off road, do some research. Better interior than an evo, tell that to the peeps what are swapping evo seats into their subarus. Don't be fanboys, be objective about it. The STI is a very sweet ride I almost purchased it but, it plows through corners, feels soft, and has crappy seats; thats why I chose an evo. The only advantage the STI has is cargo capacity. I daily drive my evo x and its quite comfortable. as far as resale value goes, 03 evo 8's still go for 15k if stock and in good condition. I don't understand where people get their facts.

I really wanted an STi not too long ago, still do, but i'm waiting for the FT-86 / Subie version to see what I should get. I like the evos dual clutch as i've never driven a manual car and would be afraid to learn on a new vehicle. I'm also waiting to hear details about the new models of cars coming out. (mustang, etc.) I'd love to get a dual clutch vehicle, but i'm sure if I end up getting a mustang, sti, or Z that it'll be manual.

I ended up with an '08 STi. I was open to both cars while searching for my car and while I loved the Evo the less compliant ride and lack of a trunk turned me away. Being a large dog owner, home owner (home depot is my friend) and a person that wants to have kids I just could not buy a car with a trunk that small. And while the STi isnt exactly a smooth riding car the Evo's ride was just too rough when i test drove it. I also picked the STi based on Subaru's legacy of quality products. While the Evo is not known to be a problem child ive seen enough ragged out 2yr old eclipses to know that the interior and exterior were not going to hold up. End of the Day I loove My STi the hauling capabilities are great and it has more then enough preformance and edge to make daily driving fun while not making you pay for it. For the cost its a perfect dual purpose car. The Evo would be great if i could afford the Evo for rough housing and a 3 Series for my DD.

def the subie for me..after seeing the evo on top gear plow down the snowy skee slope, i got respect for it, but the overall styling and subies background easily wins me over..one of the coolest hatches on our shores, the only thing besting this hatch would be the killer over the top 190mph cts-v wagon, but its a tad more $..

You guys are all high the impreza looks horrible, its a hatchback. Every redesign of the WRX since, USA inception, has looked progressively worse. Well the evo isnt exactly a super model either. With that being said they better be racers and the EVO is the better car for the job. Dual clutch or manual. For resale purposes EVOs hold its value better!
ps You guys see how ugle the sTI is???

I say go buy a standard wrx I've driven an 08 sti and a 2010 evo. The Mitsubishi handled like a dream but doesn't feel sturdy, plus the 6 speed Mr was unsatisfying. The sti has the better transmission, better brakes and a great interior. That said I drive a 09 wrx with less than 5 grand underneath and with hp+ brake pads 245/40 tires and a big intercooler, down pipe ext. I kill both on the track

Normally I'd say the Lancer Evo and another car as a daily driver (maybe a cheap one like a Ford Focus); however, right now I'd opt to wait for the next-generation STi and Lancer Evo. At the very least, it'd be good to wait and see how Mitsu and Subaru pull off their next crazy rally cars (hybrid and whatnot)

If I had to take one of those (which I never would - they're too hardcore), I'd take the STI. Sure, it's not as fun to drive as the EVO, but it's much more practical. The Lancer has a puny trunk, a really loud interior, and besides the great seats, a really dull cabin. The Subie is much more liveable. I would still buy a 328i though, or a 335i if I had a few extra grand to play around with.